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Well, we don’t exactly know when Giolito tore the ligament. He probably received an MRI prior to his deal, which should have shown it. But from what I hear, MRIs for pitchers are often very messy and complicated…

You really need to stop complaining about being word policed when folks respond to posts in which you were word policing someone else. And it’s ironic that the word you chose to police was “ironic”, as Larry did use it correctly when referring to finally replacing the oft-injured Sale with a pitcher who then came down with an even worse injury…

Losing Giolito to a pre-season injury isn’t ironic or moronic, and his weak finish to 2023 wasn’t an indicator that he was getting injured. Eovaldi had an ERA over 9.00 over the last two months. Did it slow him down through October? Bello finished weakly last year, too. Should the Sox have waited long to extend him. Signing Giolito wasn’t”moronic”, although it’s cleanly not going to help this year. Sometimes injuries are actually unforeseen by human beings who simply fail to be psychic. But what is moronic by the Sox is the failure to even bother adding anything to replace Giolito. Just bump another reliever into the toll rotation. And then grab whatever minor leaguer was next in line and push him into the bullpen. And using Giolito’s injury as an excuse to drop out of the bidding for Montgomery is also moronic. Giolito was a one-year stopgap solution. Montgomery is a multi year solution. You don’t abandon the multi year solution because the stopgap collapsed. I suppose if they’re not wild about Montgomery, that’s one thing. But they do need some sort of plan. (I’m sure there is a plan, but it’s hard to recognize it. At least for me.)

That might. But he certainly did have a significant history of being a successful MLB pitcher prior to that stretch. And not every bad stretch is a predecessor of a sudden career end…

Agreed. I can obviously see why it’s done. But it has to be a profitable venture for the insurance companies. And the only way to keep the cost down for injury-prone pitchers is to also insure the lesser risks…

… for now. (I need an emoji denoting a harsh, abrupt chord to emphasize the dramatic effect.)

Exactly how is that moronic? Is it more or less moronic than taking an elite defensive RF with multiple Gold Gloves and moving him to 2b to accommodate a one way former free agent flop? Also to move the incumbent starting 2b to SS, where, apparently he cannot field? But it’s the Dodgers. The win their division every year and have a star-laden $300mill payroll with no middle infielders. Right move or moronic?

… and mvp

Don’t you think?

Clearly he’s sunk cost now…

Not to mention, arbitration for many players is more profitable than free agency. The Sox basically bought out his pre-arb and arb years to pay him like a high end setup guy. The Sox now have a young, controlled SP who could improve dramatically for roughly the same AAV as Hector Neris…

Ever bought life insurance?

If the goal is to get them off sooner, you have to add them sooner. Although in the cases Hendriks and Giolito, the Sox are clearly looking at two pitchers out for all of 2024 (and, in Giolito’s case, half of 2025 as well). In the case of Giolito, the Sox are still exploring options and investigating the extent of the injury, so i understand why he hasn’t been placed yet. Not sure why Hendriks hasn’t been placed yet…

I’m not so sure a weak offensive showing in ST is enough to demote Rafaela. Especially with O’Neill out right now…

I’m thinking Cream’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” would be more appropriate. “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all” I would also have accepted “Mr. Bad Luck” by Jimi Hendrix…

The most ironic thing about that song is that it has no examples of actual irony…

Grissom and Giolito had injury problems last year?

The Sox are going with youth and zero depth. Move all the young middle relievers to the rotation, then don’t go get any middle relievers to replace them! Not a plan I like…

They can add 3 players once they actually start moving bodies to the 60 day IL. I get why Giolito isn’t added yet, and not sure if Mata is actually going to the 60 day IL. But no idea why they haven’t added Hendricks to it yet. I have strongly suggested DFAing Dalbec multiple times, but I think what keeps him around is that he has an option year left. Also if the goal is to have a RHH that excels vs LHP, Dalbec (.855 OPS vs LHP) has shown himself to be a better option than Cron (.814 OPS vs LHP career, .747 VS LHP last season)…

It’s good to see them not wait until year 5 to extend a player…

Depends when it starts…

I’m sure if he did well, we will be hearing about Sale all year and how he shouldn’t have been traded, just like we did with Eovaldi last year…

While no names were released, there’s a very good chance Grissom is better than anyone else that was offered for Sale…

They will have at least two open spots on the 40 man roster once they start adding Mata, Giolito, and Hendricks to the 60 day IL. I assume Cron gets one of them…

It’s nice to see the Sox for once not waiting until a player has 4-5 years before they try to extend him…